It's my birthday today!

This isn't an update it's more just me wanting to look back at the project so far and just ramble about it.

Development for TWENTY started back in like... mid December of last year.

At the time I was thinking about Object Shows like The Daily Object Show and ONE, and around that time I was just imagining my own Object Show like both of those but using characters that feel like it'd fit more in the world of ENA. Just a surreal world with very strange looking characters. While in my head I feel like I would rather use the characters in 3D animation, at some point I just felt like I really want to do something with these characters and went to work on another RPG Maker game with the lofty ambition of making a game in 4 weeks. Development's now 7-8 months in ;^_^ I imagined the sidescroller style would help out with developing the game since I didn't need to think hard about area design if it was a top down. Unsure if that held true though.

The game's was really basic. Two characters plus two others head off to the city to stop the evil villain's return, with some optional mini bosses along the way for kicks. There was originally an idea to make the game like the Stanley Parable but with the intent on glitches being known and having strange effects on it. Like doing something specific screws with the event flags and the protagonist is sent back in time, or there's a horror event where the protagonist beats a dummy enemy and becomes a bloated monster for getting a million EXP, or straight up Missingno being a fight somewhere in the game. I think in my head I wanted to toy with the idea of a world literally being a shoddily made game with holes everywhere and characterizing them in any way possible.

It's crazy for me to think that the game to me really started and ended with that. While some ideas and scenarios are being retained for the future, the areas and one glitch event is something I'll keep but not the entire idea of the world literally being a shoddy game, I don't think they would've been developed much at all. I had two more areas planned and one of them is basically the final dungeon. Development has gone on long enough for me to add more meat to its bones, think of new scenarios, ideas for areas, ideas for bosses, and I think a better story. And while I'm trying to be wary of stuff like feature creep and bloat, there's a feeling in my head that I genuinely needed more content to be decent since the original was very minimal and lacking a lot of motivation the player or give a reason for the story to happen. I didn't think "stop the evil bad guy" was motivating enough and eventually I had the issue of finding a reason for the story to happen. I think I might be heading in a better trajectory now than before.

My world didn't have much lore or reasoning but now I think I have something that could be jumped off from and made into something compelling. I think I finally have an idea to actually motivate the story forward. I don't know what else I can say but that's what I have so far I think. And I think I could expand the game more after the area I'm working on is done, so long as my ideas don't keep changing and I don't get bored with this game and abandon it.

It's kinda strange to me thinking back, I felt like I had everything all figured out. I knew what I wanted to do. And then I felt like there were a lot of things that didn't work because I didn't know everything or had anything really figured out. And maybe I still don't and I'll never know! But I guess that's just what happens you know? Maybe this'll be a lesson to me about me being a bad planner I guess. Everything I thought of is just so small in comparison to the bigger picture that it feels like I've been more making things as I go along than really following a greater picture. I know what the ending is but... not really everything in between... And even then, I might become disillusioned with the ending and try out something else. At this rate I'm tempted to copy LISA The Painful and add more optional party members for a (At least I think) very unique idea to play off the Object Show origins. Not gonna say what it is but I'm considering it.

While I'm at it, here's some unused stuff I guess. The first two are fascinating to me because they were made when I felt finished enough with the first area. I haven't touched them since making assets for them and I doubt I'll keep them any longer because things have changed.

Screenshots made of the next two areas after I mostly finished the last area.

A map layout of one of the areas.

Intended to be an overworld boss encounter where you kick TNT into the boss and engage with them, with enemies around to damage and hinder you.

I'm not sure what else there is to say to be honest. Thanks for reading!

College is finally over for now. I'm on break till September.

I should be able to get more progress in on this game now. At least I hope so. This college year has been stressful to put it mildly. That was my first defeat in school ever, so maybe instead of getting back to developing it, maybe I need some time to relax and reorient myself.

Regardless, I really want to get this game out for people to play. Unfortunately it's probably gonna be part one out of two and I'm worried I might not commit to a part two due to waning interest in committing. I've been interested in tinkering with Clickteam Fusion eventually and presumably after this is at least half done, I'll feel comfortable moving onto that and tinkering with that.

Nothing to share or show, just an announcement development is goinna kick back up now cause I'm on break.

Hey it's been two months, wanted to give an update again.

Due to college being extremely strenuous and stressful, not much has been made. Just I haven't been able to make many pushes and I feel like I'm currently stuck unsure what to do. It's like that feeling of there's so much to do but you don't know where to start first. I'm kinda wondering if I'll make any pushes during the Summer break cause I can't tell if I'm super burnt out or something. I really want the first part to release but... it's not really getting anywhere. Just a lot to make and finish and dwindling motivation to really finish it.

Something I do wanna say though, I have been working on something intended for like... something else and I'm tempted on working on more?

Sometime ago, maybe in the middle of April, I had a random want to add like a challenge mode thing to my game. The intent was to be like some random challenges for players to try out, along with teasing content for Update 2. Some of the challenges would involve playing as the bosses fighting super powered bosses, and showing off battle and gameplay ideas I have for Update 2.

The point ultimately is to tease Update 2 by showing characters I have in mind for it, along with a strange way to do character building since this is really the only time when the villain will interact with characters and I thought it might be cool to give one off bosses more screen time to interact with other characters. The story intent though is to treat it as a What If scenario. None of it actually happened but by all reason it can happen. This character can do this and these characters will react as such in this scenario.

There's a part of me that wants to like cut things down even more and just make and release this admittedly. Just port to web and put it on Itch.io for people to try out or something. On one hand maybe I need like a change of pace and need to work on something else before I feel ready working on the main game if that makes sense. Though on the other, maybe I need something else entirely to work on or just need a month of relaxing or something. Idk. I want to release this game at least.

I have no clue honestly. Here's a screenshot of what I've got:

Take care y'all.

Honestly I still don't have much else to share but I wanna update on something.

Right now, i think I have a general idea of what I'm doing with the game now. The first area is planned out and I think is the most flesh out I can make it. I think it's really good now and I'm glad to not just leave it how it was originally and bolt to the next area. I think I'll release like the game when that part is done and all. Presumably as a demo for the full game, I think anyways.

Something I do wanna mention is that for the month of April, I wanted to participate in a Game Jam. There's a game jam that'll go through the entire month of April that I'd wanna try out. I'm not ultimately sure why. I mean maybe it was during a point of slight burnout with TWENTY and wanting something new, maybe I just wanna put something out there but there's something with me that just can't, or maybe I just wanna try something new now. I really don't know honestly. I feel like I have a good idea for the concept that's interesting and I wanna pull it off, if I can anyways... I already proven I can't make a game in a month so... God forbid I'll actually make a game in a month. Especially during the first month of a new college quarter (Unlike TWENTY which was during a break). So... Yeah idk. Maybe I'll bail midway through, though I think it would be nice to actually learn to develop things maybe a bit faster (Not in a rushed sense.) and probably learn something from game development and actually loosen up in game design.

So yeah, TWENTY might be on hold to do a Game Jam. Though for this break I'm doing, I'll see what I can crack away before development goes to that game.

~Here's some sketches I made~

(I think at some point I should stop updating until I have something substantial to share -_-)

Cheers y'all!~

Development is still going on! School's a bit stressful currently. Gotta deal with a lot of stuff so things are super slow. Got maybe... 4 weeks left or so before I'm on week long break.

Currently the plan is to at least have half the game in a good state to show out as a Demo. Currently I realize the beginning part feels really sparse and not as good as I think it should be. So before heading off to something else, working on that first half. When that's good, I'll show ya what I've made.

I have made some stuff however. Check it out:

Also a title screen for the game:

Hey, another update and this'll be a big one.

So unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to make the January 9th release date I intended. I don't have everything I want to add into the game yet so it's not finished. If I had to give a percentage of how finished the game is, it's probably at max maybe 45% done. I'm still developing an area and adding in all the stuff needed for it, and that's ignoring creating the items, character moves, and playtesting and such. I don't even know how I'm gonna do composing/music for the game.

Now what does that mean going forward? Development does have a plan but right now it's going by a "make up as things go long" method of development which is probably why it's taking longer than a month. I don't know if I'll release a teaser or a demo to the game in the near future since I don't think I'll be able to get that done by the date or within the week. I also don't know I'd release the game since January 9th is when I get back into college and barring college obligations, I don't know what date I'd shoot for in the near future. Maybe I can always go for the 9th day next month or maybe I can shut my mouth and just not say anything until I have something. I at least hope I don't give up on the project cause of college but we'll see about that. That also means that I think I'll be cutting back on doing updates as I probably won't have a whole lot to show or a whole lot that's interesting to share. Though if anything cool comes up (Like I complete the area I'm working on) I'll probably share it with y'all.

Anyways, here's some development screenshots~

Since it's a special occasion, I'll give some descriptions

The tiny house town. It's a small town with tiny houses.

You know those P-Switch runs from those hard Mario stages?

Real Time Boss.

Sorry I won't be able to make the January 9th release date. I hope to get this game released someday in the future. I at least hope it's not gonna be a year long endeavor like the last real project.

Happy New Year y'all!

Just some screenshots for this week

Update on the game! I want this to be weekly but I didn't really have the backgrounds for the battles made and finalized yet, so here's some screenshots of some stuff being made. Still developing on one area. I think I've dipped into the real development of the game I think. It's going along smoothly.

Wanna know what I've been working on for the past couple of days or so?

Never intended this thing to actually be a game honestly butI had an idea for a game so might as well do it. Got a month left to myself to do something.

An RPG made in RPG Maker, trying to create a game with the same general style as LISA: The Painful with a mood akin to ENA. A surreal or trippy aesthetic is something I'm aiming for at least.

Not sure on everything but aiming for Janunary 9th to be at least somewhat finished.